Animation is the act of giving life to something. In film terms, therefore, it’s giving a life or spirit to something previously without one – for instance a drawing, a clay model or a computer generated image.

The world of animation, therefore, is one of life and vitality and vibrancy. The Walt Disney quote emblazoned across the top of the site perfectly sums up the appeal of animation to me – anything that can be imagined can be animated, and whilst CG graphics in live action films continue to astonish, it can’t quite beat the escape of an animated film. And so the plains of the Serengheti can become the setting for a reimagining of Hamlet with lions, and cats can become buses that roam through the Japanese countryside. Whether exploring this world in exciting ways, or creating entirely new ones, the possibilities of what an animator can do are endless.

Clearly, then, animation is far more than Saturday morning cartoons and is definitely not just for children. It’s an exciting, lively medium that can tell stories in a unique, captivating way. That’s why I made this site.

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A confabulation is an informal discussion about something.

This site will discuss animated films of all shapes and sizes. Whilst my personal preferences lean towards 2D, hand drawn animation, I will attempt to review everything from the latest studio CG blockbuster to smaller independent animations that you may only find at your local arthouse cinema or on DVD.

However, this is a solo run site, and is maintained by a student with not much money and time. So it may only be films on a wide release that end up getting reviewed, as availability will often determine what gets written about. Thankfully my city (Edinburgh) has some excellent cinemas, so I should be able to take in a wide variety of animated films, and growing online resources means that retrospectives should be very feasible as well.

Alongside reviews, this site will post news stories, and comments on trends, awards and critical consensus. Basically it will be a site full of confabulations all about animation. Hence the name.